Islands Adventures
 www.airtahiti.com > Islands Adventures
Created by Air Tahiti in 1991, Séjours dans les Iles and its younger offshoot Islands Adventures offer flight and lodging packages in hotels and family pensions throughout the country. Thousand soft travelers have taken advantage of these deals over the years to discover all the magic our islands have to offer.
With five archipelagos and 76 inhabited islands, French Polynesia has an incredible variety of landscapes and cultures just waiting to be explored. To make traveling to the many islands as comfortable and as easy as possible Air Tahiti went beyond its borders as an airline and started a program that helps develop destinations as well as smaller hotels and pensions around the archipelagos. Séjours dans les Iles began in 1991 and, with its economical flight and lodging packages, has made getting to lost island paradises a cinch.
Initially Séjours dans les Iles was created for residents of French Polynesia to get out and explore their country more economically. From the outset flight and lodging packages were offered at attractive prices and detailed information about each island and lodging option facilitated the client’s decision about where to go. In the early 90s information about the outer islands was hard to come by besides in certain guidebooks. Another objective of Séjours dans les Iles was to promote lesser-known islands - most often located far from Tahiti - and let people what they had to offer. Finally, Air Tahiti felt it was important to help out family pensions that had little access to promotional avenues, such as tourist agencies, that were only available to bigger hotels. Family pensions are a way for visitors to get a much richer version of the country and offer more freedom for guests to explore the natural and cultural treasures of each island. Lodging options like these are scattered all over the country but form a dense network. Find yourself nestled in one of Raiatea’s spectacular bays or surrounded by powdery white sand on one of Raivavae’s paradisiacal islets: family pensions are located in some of French Polynesia’s finest landscapes.
© G. le bacon
A choice of 80 sleeping options over 20 islands
Professionalism and information
An expanding business
Putting quality first
A strong Internet presence
A choice of 80 sleeping options over 20 islands
Today Séjours dans les Iles offers packages to 20 islands amongst all five archipelagos in French Polynesia. Lodging choices include over 50 pensions and 30 hotels. The packages include air tickets with reduced fares of up to 50% depending on the destination and under certain conditions. Special promotions are also offered either on airfares only or in collaboration with the hotels and pensions. Nowadays information on destination and about the sleeping options is widely available on the web and in print along with numerous photos.
In 2001 Séjours dans les Iles went international and a site in English called Islands Adventures (www.islandsadventures.com) was created. Now everyone can find adventures and bargains off the beaten path in only a few clicks (note that the English site is not available within French Polynesia).
Professionalism and information
This success is the fruit of lots of what was sometimes difficult work. Our tour operators crisscrossed the country looking for destinations and lodging options that could offer travelers an authentic experience without sacrificing quality. It was rare that any of these places had worked with tour agencies before. Therefore it was often necessary to sensitize some of these places to the expectations of professional tourism in regards to service, reservation procedures, insurance and much more.
Over the years the flight and lodging packages have had great success with the public. Nevertheless, there was sometimes a gap between the expectations of the clientele and local realities in some more remote destinations where lodging was close to the inhabitants. Soon it was obviously necessary to work more closely with the pension owners and their clients to ensure a successful stay. Firstly, travelers were given a practical information guide with tips and suggestions to help them enjoy their trip more. Next, the pensions and hotels were more closely followed up on and given quality criteria. Side by side with both public and private organizations, Séjours dans les Iles has greatly contributed to the professionalizing of family pensions while at the same time helping to conserve their charm and authenticity.
© Tim-mckenna.com
An expanding business
Séjours dans les Iles started up in its own office in the heart of the old Air Tahiti bureau at Fare Tony in Papeete. The office acted as a sales desk and telephone information point and was made up of itineraries and reservations from local tour agencies. Since this time, Séjours dans les Iles has come a long way. Today the agency is made up of two reservation centers: one for local tour agencies and a second for international sales. A phone center was also created.
Another sign of success is the three web sites, which are aimed at both French Polynesian residents and the greater public. One of the three sites is used exclusively by travel agencies while another is for international customers.
There are now over 20 employees at Air Tahiti who work with Séjours dans les Iles and Islands Adventures. The three Air Tahiti agencies welcome clients seeking packages as well as over a dozen independent travel agencies around French Polynesia.
All of the hotels and pensions who work with Séjours dans les Iles benefit from the system’s sales network as well as publicity. The agency actively promotes the islands via the press, TV and radio. Financed entirely by Air Tahiti - except of course the running of the lodging options themselves - this publicity generates business for the county’s entire tourism sector.
Today Séjours dans les Iles is a motor for French Polynesian tourism. Within ten years the number of clients has doubled, with over 10,300 people using the service in 2008. Half the clients stay in family pensions while the other half choose to stay in hotels.
Concretely filtered through a quality system, client satisfaction has increased showing that he tour agency has managed to maximize the potential of traveling through a diversity of islands. Séjours dans les Iles still keeps as its goal to give the maximum number of visitors the chance to explore and discover the treasures of Polynesia.
Putting quality first
Séjours dans les Iles is concerned, above all with the quality of its lodging options. Before including a hotel or pension in a package, each place is scrutinized through a selective process. Quality control is established either through a visit to the place of lodging or through a telephone interview. Customer feedback is given back to each hotel or pension to help them make changes and improve if they need to. In this way Séjours dans les Iles can be sure that its clients are getting the best possible product that will live up to all of their expectations.
A strong Internet presence
On www.sejoursdanslesisles.pf, reserved for French Polynesian residents, there is information on promotions and offers as well as the destinations, lodging options and lots of photos. Net surfers will also be happy to find videos of the islands. For anyone looking for travel ideas the « Nouveautés » (new) section highlights new establishments or new services offered by partners. The « Récits de voyage… » (tales from the road) section centers on island life and what people there are up to. The site is set up so web surfers can search for offers by island as well as by budget or even by a key word. One click and you’ll find your desired information (in French of course). Outside of French Polynesia clients can go to www.islandsadventures.com which has a variety of offers and lots of practical advice for traveling in the islands. Regularly updated both of the sites are complete and surefire tools that can help you choose a destination, a place to stay and check flight itineraries.
Text : Tahiti Communication | 
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